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Yuzuru Hanyu

Figure Skating JPN

YuzuruHanyu

Birth date12/07/1994

BirthplaceSendai

HometownSendai

ResidenceToronto

Height/Weight
5'7"/ 125 lbs

Olympics2014

Biography

Yuzuru Hanyu became the first man to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating for Japan when he won at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Since then, he’s become a nearly unstoppable force when he competes at his best. He’s set the highest-ever recorded scores in the short program, free skate, and overall total. He has won the Japanese national championships four: 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He withdrew from nationals in 2017 with the flu. He set another record by becoming the first man to win four consecutive Grand Prix Final titles, in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Hanyu is coached by two-time Olympic silver medalist Brian Orser in Toronto, Canada. At the rink, there is a wall with the names of Olympic and world champions that have trained there; Hanyu says he looks at it when he is tired. Another of Orser’s pupils, Spain’s Javier Fernandez, is one of Hanyu’s major rivals. Hanyu won the world title in 2014, Fernandez claimed the title in 2015 and 2016, but in 2017, Hanyu took his title back.

Hanyu opened his season at the Autumn Classic, where he earned silver behind Fernandez. At his first Grand Prix assignment in Russia, Hanyu finished second behind American rival Nathan Chen. Hanyu was set to compete on home ice at the Grand Prix in Japan, but injured himself in warm-up and had to withdraw. He subsequently missed the Grand Prix Final and Japanese nationals, but is expected to return to full health by PyeongChang.